Article created for the July digital issue of
Remaining competitive in the truckstop and travel plaza industry requires constant innovation. Digital shelf labels, also called electronic shelf labels, are helping retailers streamline labor, manage promotions and optimize pricing.
“Digital shelf tags give you the ability to properly adjust prices without using a lot of labor to go out and make changes,” said Darren Schulte, NATSO’s vice president of membership. “We have to move away from antiquated ways we’ve done business in the travel store and c-store and look at what are the big retailers doing when it comes to promotion and pricing.”
Schulte said several NATSO members are in the process of implementing shelf labels and others have been testing and utilizing them. “Retailers in Europe, including fuel retailers, have been using them for quite some time,” he said.
Truckstop and travel center operators can also learn from those outside of the industry. The grocery chain Schnuck’s is expanding electronic shelf labels across its stores to free up associates for other tasks, boost operational efficiencies and tap into new retail media offerings. Walmart is in the process of rolling out 60 million digital shelf labels across 50 stores.
“Changing price shelf labels in stores is time intensive for our associates. We’ve been testing digital solutions that will help us manage these price changes electronically, allowing associates more time to do what matters most – helping our customers,” said Bala Prasanna, vice president, Walmart U.S., in a statement. “We’re seeing positive results and are expanding the rollout of these electronic shelf labels.”
The costs associated with digital shelf labels are dropping and labor costs are rising, helping retailers justify the investment. “When you digitize your pricing, there are costs involved, but I’m confident that people who utilize the technology properly have a quick ROI,” Schulte said.
Here are three ways travel centers can benefit from digital shelf labels:
Real-time Pricing Updates.
With digital shelf labels, truckstop and travel center operators can update prices and promotional information in real-time, eliminating the need for manual price changes and ensuring consistency between the displayed price and the point-of-sale system.
“We would never leave our fuel price the same because fuel costs are very volatile. Well, the cost of our other products goes up and down, especially in food,” Schulte said.
Dynamic Pricing and Promotions.
Dynamic pricing allows locations to adjust prices based on several factors, including demand, inventory levels and the time of day, and optimize pricing strategies.
"We’ll have an item that we sell during our busiest time of the day but want to mark it down another time. If the shelf tags are digital, it gives you flexibility, and you can make price adjustments just like that,” Schulte said.
Enhanced Operational Efficiency.
Digital shelf labels streamline the process of updating and managing product information. Retailers can centrally control and remotely manage the tags, reducing the time and effort required for manual label updates. Staff no longer have to spend time manually hanging shelf labels and can focus on customer-related tasks.
Schulte also recommends operators consider digital menu boards. “You can change them however often you choose and have your menu boards talk to your register and back-office system, so the information is automatically updated,” he said.
// This article was created for Stop Watch magazine, the magazine of the NATSO Foundation. The NATSO Foundation is the research, education and public outreach subsidiary of NATSO, Inc. The NATSO Foundation provides programs and products to strengthen travel plazas’ ability to meet the traveling public's needs through improved operational performance and business planning. Visit www.natsofoundation.org for more information. (Donate to the NATSO Foundation here.)
Subscribe to Updates
NATSO provides a breadth of information created to strengthen travel plazas’ ability to meet the needs of the travelling public in an age of disruption. This includes knowledge filled blog posts, articles and publications. If you would like to receive a digest of blog post and articles directly in your inbox, please provide your name, email and the frequency of the updates you want to receive the email digest.
